Crumble
by Scotia Daniel
Summary: Staring out at the vast nothingness, Aelita looked in the direction that would have been the Mountain Sector, but knew it was gone. All gone. She could easily turn to look to where the Forest and Ice Sectors would be, but knew they had been disintegrated long ago.


What once was barren wasteland was now nothing but a rotting, digital sea. With time, the ground would crack and crumble, falling to the mass pit of nothing below to be lost forever.

Staring out at the vast nothingness, Aelita looked in the direction that would have been the Mountain Sector, but knew it was gone. All gone. She could easily turn to look to where the Forest and Ice Sectors would be, but knew they had been disintegrated long ago.

The pink haired girl took a step back, her eyes dipping down to where she had stood and watched as the ground crumbled and fell into the digital sea, never to be seen again, just like the rest of Lyoko.

The girl continued to play that game of standing and stepping away in time for the ground to crumble away. She stared at the sky, her eyes roaming the air as though searching for an answer.

'They'll come for me,' she thought. But she knew they wouldn't. Odd, Yumi and Ulrich had been defeated in battle and dropped to the digital sea. She waited for them to either come back or for Jeremy to help her with the tower, but he never did.

She had tried finding the tower herself only to discover that each of the towers had been activated. When Aelita had discovered that, she knew her friends wouldn't be back.

Aelita tried calling out to Jeremy but knew he would never again answer her. Her friends were gone. Xana had won and he knew it. Aelita didn't have to meditate to know he knew it was the end. And now, as the sole ruler of Lyoko and the last warrior standing, she was the only thing in his way from fully winning.

The girl took another step back. Lyoko was almost completely gone. It was just her and the last tower standing. Soon, she'd have to retreat into it. Aelita knew she could try to materialize herself, but she didn't know the code. And it would take far too long to figure it out to bring her back. And if her friends really were gone forever, Xana could easily kill her on her way out or bug her body.

Aelita took one last look around, Lyoko now only a single floating island with a tower and a little girl that was virtually powerless. She had waited for Xana's creatures to kill her, but that never came. She knew he wanted her to suffer, that killing her with his monsters would be too quick and would give her more of an escape than a psychological horror.

The pink haired girl sighed and turned, morphing into the safety of the tower as the last of the ground crumbled into nothing. Inside was dark and, if it were possible to feel, Aelita imagined that the tower would feel cold.

Aelita hugged herself, missing the real world already. She missed eating, sleeping, the idea of being hot and cold and being able to breathe. But she knew she'd never be able to do that again.

She floated up to the top platform of the tower. The building groaned as though it were threatening to collapse. Aelita knew it wouldn't be long until the tower itself would crumble to the sea below as well. It was only a matter of time.

It was weird to think that she was now experiencing the last moments of her life. Where would she go after this? Would she be technically dead? Or would there be hope to restore them all one day?

The walls began to crack in places. Aelita could only blink, knowing she should be afraid, but deep down, she wasn't. She refused to be afraid during her final minutes in the face of her enemy. If she were to die, then so be it.

Aelita closed her eyes and wished she could hear Jeremy's soothing voice telling her everything is okay. But only the sound of the tower crumbling filled her ears. She hoped that, if she did die in a few minutes, she'd see her friends again. See Jeremy again...that they will be safe and happy.

The girl sat down on the platform, listening to the cracking noises as the walls fell apart around her. She held her legs to her chest and rested her cheek against her knees as she waited for the end to come.


End file.
